As I was driving down to Philadelphia last night I listened to the Mark Levin show on WABC out of New York. It was the first time I’ve listened to right-wing radio in a very long time. And it was a revelation. What I learned is that most of this country is being told that the Occupy protestors are engaged in rape, public defecation and urination, unprotected sex, and rampant drug use. And this image is being backed up by newspapers like the New York Post that are depicting the protestors as bi-polar paranoid lunatics who haven’t taken their meds. They are also depicting the protestors as anti-Semites, communists, anti-American, and throwbacks to the 1960’s anti-war protestors.
What’s also interesting is that the right-wing radio jocks are depicting the conservatives as wholly innocent and not responsible in any way for the condition of the economy. They have cast Bush and McCain out of the conservative movement, and they blame them for supporting TARP, the bailout of the auto industry, and everything else that might be considered the legacy of Bush’s two terms in office.
In much of the country, people don’t hear any countervailing views on the radio. This is the reality they are presented with.
